Introduction This unit of work is designed to be delivered in a secondary school classroom, in a blended learning environment. Students will explore a complex global problem, its causes and effects, and apply business knowledge to provide a range of possible solutions and recommendations for the problem. In particular, they will consider complex problems arising from global recession, natural disasters, and social networking. The unit has been aligned closely with constructivist principles in terms of encouraging learners to engage with the task and their peers in order to construct a deep understanding of each topic.
Year Level
Year 13 (17-18 years old)
NZ Curriculum Level
Level 8
Key Business Concepts
Globalisation is the umbrella concept for the year 13 course of study, and this unit is clearly situated within this concept. Globalisation is about "exploring what it means to be part of a global community and to live amongst diverse cultures". (Ministry of Education, 2010)
Achievement Objectives
This unit of work will allow students to work towards achieving the curriculum Learning Objective 8.1:
"...analyse how and why businesses in New Zealand operating in the national and global markets make operational and strategic decisions in response to interacting internal and external factors." (Ministry of Education, 2010a)
Specific Learning Objectives
By the end of this unit, students will be able to:
Recognise how global issues such as recession, differing trends, natural disasters, war, political unrest, and social networking affect New Zealand organisations.
Identify causes and effects of a range of global issues.
Undertake a problem-solving process to identify a range of possible solutions to a global problem.
Recommend a commercially viable solution to a given global issue and consider the consequences of this solution for the organisation.
Links to New Zealand Curriculum
Principles
Values
Key Competencies
This unit is designed to incorporate the principle of future focus by:
"...encourag[ing] students to look to the future by exploring such significant future-focused issues as sustainability, citizenship, enterprise, and globalisation." (Ministry of Education, 2007a)
Students will be encouraged to value:
"Innovation, inquiry, and curiosity, by thinking critically, creatively, and reflectively". (Ministry of Education, 2007b)
Students will be encouraged to develop competencies in:
"Relating to others[- this] is about interacting effectively with a diverse range of people in a variety of contexts. This competency includes the ability to listen actively, recognise different points of view, negotiate, and share ideas". (Ministry of Education, 2007c)
Effective Pedagogy
According to the Best Evidence Synthesis by Aitken & Sinnema (2008), the following four items are the basis of effective pedagogy in the Social Sciences.
Connection: Make connections to students’ lives
Alignment: Align experiences to important outcomes
Community: Build and sustain a learning community
Interest: Design experiences that interest students.
These principles also align closely with Goodyear's (2002) concept of cognitive interaction as by building Aitken's et. al (2008) four aspects of effective pedagogy in to the coursework, learners are encouraged to engage with the material. In fact it is the designer's view that the four principles of effective pedagogy must be present for students to interact cognitively with the material.
Suggested Timeframe
This unit of work is planned for approximately 25 hours of learner time. In a blended learning environment, it is envisioned that students will spend 15 hours working through the unit in-class with the teacher, and between 5-10 hours of homework time. Depending on the student cohort and the level of technology available, the duration may vary significantly. For example, a typical class schedule might be:
Suggested Wiki Pages
Lessons 1-2
Introduction to Global Problem solving
Lessons 3-4
Tools Test
Lessons 5-9
Problem-solving
Lessons 10-14
Global Recession
Lessons 15-16
Social Media
Lessons 17-18
Natural Disaster
Opportunities for Assessment
Formative Assessment: Students will gain feedback throughout the unit by sharing ideas and gaining feedback on these from peers and teacher. There are multiple opportunities to formatively assess the progress of students as they complete each section of work. Goodyear (2002) stresses the importance of feedback to online learning materials and consequently, feedback is embedded into this unit in three ways:
There are opportunities for learners to get feedback from their peers both through the online course materials (such as wall wisher and wiki comment), and through small-group discussions and interactions with peers.
The blended classroom environment allows teachers to give both informal and formal feedback and feed-forward on how well each stage of the unit is performed. The intention is that teachers will monitor group interactions and progress regularly, and give each group feedback/forward during lessons. They will also have an opportunity to provide formal feedback through progress-marking of the portfolio assignment.
Students will complete a self assessment of their understanding and progress through the units. They will also complete a peer assessments of their team-mates' contribution to the tasks.
Summative Assessment: There is one summative assessment task in the form of a portfolio. This portfolio may take the form of a physical 'pen and paper' portfolio (such as a book or clearfile), or an online portfolio (such as Mahara www.mahara.co.nz). It is suggested that the portfolio be marked progressively as students finish each unit in order to provide feed-forward. It can also be marked as a a final assessment to the unit according to the rubric below. The unit covers topics from the NCEA assessment Business Studies 3.3 - Apply business knowledge to address a complex business problem(s) in a given global business context (draft), and will be key to building knowledge for this externally assessed exam.
The benefits of using this portfolio approach to assessing this unit of work are:
To document progress over time
To develop skills in reflection and self-assessment
To provide evidence of problem solving in relation to global business issues
To provide evidence of the use of online tools used as collaborative learning tools
To present a holistic picture of individual skills and abilities as a business student
Opportunities for Extension
This unit of work is highly scaffolded and assumes that students have not had much exposure to online tools, or a problem-solving process. For those students who need extension and challenge in your class, some ideas on how to extend these students are included below. It may be more of a challenge for students to complete these tasks individually, or they may complete in small groups. Students research the following independent research questions centred around each of the three themes. They will then make and upload a documentary style video to YouTube video about one (or all) of the topics.
1. Recession Students may identify a major recession event such as the 2009 financial crisis and the following questions:
Fully explain the causes of this event and the specific events or decisions that lead to the financial melt-down/recession.
Fully explain the effects of this event on one local and one global businesses.
Identify the decisions each of the businesses made as a result of the recession.
Identify actions that the NZ government took as a result of the recession.
Justify why these decisions were appropriate (or not) in this situation.
2. Social Media
Students track the rise and fall of businesses operating in the social media arena by:
Identifying one social media company that is currently operating well.
Identifying one social media company that has failed or is perceived to be in decline.
Fully evaluate the unique offerings of each organisations in terms of what benefits do they provide to both business and personal customers.
Identify 3-5 factors that you believe are key to operating a successful social media business.
Justify how these factors lead to the success of a social media business.
3. Natural Disaster
Students will investigate the protections and preparations that businesses can undertake to ensure operation through times of disaster.
Identify 2 business insurance companies and fully compare their business insurance products.
Fully explain the role that insurance companies have in ensuring the protection of a businesses assets in natural disasters.
Fully explain how businesses should go about ensuring customer and business data stored electronically is not lost in the case of a natural disaster.
Fully justify why businesses should (not) have insurance.
4. Video Documentary
Students create and upload a documentary style video covering one, or all of the topics researched above.
Your video should be informative and provide valuable information to businesses.
Your target audience should be young people starting out in business.
Your video should be 5-8 minutes long.
Upload your video to YouTube, and send your teacher the link.
Suggestions for Adaptation
While this unit is designed for a blended learning environment, the designers recognise that technology is not always available in schools or at home. The suggestions below identify some methods of adapting the tasks to a mostly face-to-face environment, as well as to a mostly online environment.
Group Discussion Tasks
Group discussion tasks are intended to be completed in small working groups. Some ideas for using them in other ways are:
Class discussions - Discuss questions raised as a class with students noting down answers to questions as they go.
Homework Interview - Students raise these questions through an interview with member of their family and reflect on their answers.
Forum discussions - Students post their answers to a course discussion forum.
Watch/View Tasks
Watch/View tasks are intended to be completed either on individual computers or as a small group on one computer. Some ideas for using them in other ways are:
Class view - Videos are viewed as a class, and texts are read from a printed class set.
Individual View - Videos and texts are viewed individually (homework?) and discussed face to face or in a forum.
Comment Tasks
Comment tasks are designed to encourage peer feedback and interaction with the materials. Some ideas for using them in other ways are:
Post box - Comments are written on paper and submitted to the relevant 'post box'. Teacher then collates answers and uses them to prompt class discussion.
Class discussion - Ideas are discussed as a class and students take notes.
Discussion forum - Students post their comments to a discussion forum.
Portfolio Tasks Portfolio tasks are the basis of the final assessment task. There are a number of formats that this could take:
Pen and paper - Students collect artefacts and present in a clearfile or specified portfolio book.
E-portfolio - Students collect artefacts online and submit to a portfolio tool such as Mahara (www.mahara.co.nz) or using a Moodle plug-in for portfolios (www.moodle.co.nz).
Word Sunmissions - Students may collate all of their answers to each topic into a word document saved on the school drive, or USB. At the end of each unit, this may be handed in to the teacher for formative feedback.
Extra Resources
Below is a collection of videos suitable for Problem Solving lessons.
Table of Contents
This unit of work is designed to be delivered in a secondary school classroom, in a blended learning environment. Students will explore a complex global problem, its causes and effects, and apply business knowledge to provide a range of possible solutions and recommendations for the problem. In particular, they will consider complex problems arising from global recession, natural disasters, and social networking. The unit has been aligned closely with constructivist principles in terms of encouraging learners to engage with the task and their peers in order to construct a deep understanding of each topic.
Year Level
NZ Curriculum Level
Key Business Concepts
Globalisation is the umbrella concept for the year 13 course of study, and this unit is clearly situated within this concept. Globalisation is about "exploring what it means to be part of a global community and to live amongst diverse cultures". (Ministry of Education, 2010)Achievement Objectives
This unit of work will allow students to work towards achieving the curriculum Learning Objective 8.1:"...analyse how and why businesses in New Zealand operating in the national and global markets make operational and strategic decisions in response to interacting internal and external factors." (Ministry of Education, 2010a)
Specific Learning Objectives
By the end of this unit, students will be able to:Links to New Zealand Curriculum
"...encourag[ing] students to look to the future by exploring such significant future-focused issues as sustainability, citizenship, enterprise, and globalisation."
(Ministry of Education, 2007a)
"Innovation, inquiry, and curiosity, by thinking critically, creatively, and reflectively". (Ministry of Education, 2007b)
"Relating to others[- this] is about interacting effectively with a diverse range of people in a variety of contexts. This competency includes the ability to listen actively, recognise different points of view, negotiate, and share ideas".
(Ministry of Education, 2007c)
Effective Pedagogy
According to the Best Evidence Synthesis by Aitken & Sinnema (2008), the following four items are the basis of effective pedagogy in the Social Sciences.These principles also align closely with Goodyear's (2002) concept of cognitive interaction as by building Aitken's et. al (2008) four aspects of effective pedagogy in to the coursework, learners are encouraged to engage with the material. In fact it is the designer's view that the four principles of effective pedagogy must be present for students to interact cognitively with the material.
Suggested Timeframe
This unit of work is planned for approximately 25 hours of learner time. In a blended learning environment, it is envisioned that students will spend 15 hours working through the unit in-class with the teacher, and between 5-10 hours of homework time. Depending on the student cohort and the level of technology available, the duration may vary significantly. For example, a typical class schedule might be:
Opportunities for Assessment
Formative Assessment: Students will gain feedback throughout the unit by sharing ideas and gaining feedback on these from peers and teacher. There are multiple opportunities to formatively assess the progress of students as they complete each section of work. Goodyear (2002) stresses the importance of feedback to online learning materials and consequently, feedback is embedded into this unit in three ways:Summative Assessment: There is one summative assessment task in the form of a portfolio. This portfolio may take the form of a physical 'pen and paper' portfolio (such as a book or clearfile), or an online portfolio (such as Mahara www.mahara.co.nz). It is suggested that the portfolio be marked progressively as students finish each unit in order to provide feed-forward. It can also be marked as a a final assessment to the unit according to the rubric below. The unit covers topics from the NCEA assessment Business Studies 3.3 - Apply business knowledge to address a complex business problem(s) in a given global business context (draft), and will be key to building knowledge for this externally assessed exam.
The benefits of using this portfolio approach to assessing this unit of work are:
Assessment Rubric for Portfolio:
Self Assessment Rubric:
Peer Assessment Rubric:
Opportunities for Extension
This unit of work is highly scaffolded and assumes that students have not had much exposure to online tools, or a problem-solving process. For those students who need extension and challenge in your class, some ideas on how to extend these students are included below. It may be more of a challenge for students to complete these tasks individually, or they may complete in small groups. Students research the following independent research questions centred around each of the three themes. They will then make and upload a documentary style video to YouTube video about one (or all) of the topics.
1. Recession
Students may identify a major recession event such as the 2009 financial crisis and the following questions:
2. Social Media
Students track the rise and fall of businesses operating in the social media arena by:
3. Natural Disaster
Students will investigate the protections and preparations that businesses can undertake to ensure operation through times of disaster.
4. Video Documentary
Students create and upload a documentary style video covering one, or all of the topics researched above.
Suggestions for Adaptation
While this unit is designed for a blended learning environment, the designers recognise that technology is not always available in schools or at home. The suggestions below identify some methods of adapting the tasks to a mostly face-to-face environment, as well as to a mostly online environment.Group discussion tasks are intended to be completed in small working groups. Some ideas for using them in other ways are:
Watch/View tasks are intended to be completed either on individual computers or as a small group on one computer. Some ideas for using them in other ways are:
Comment tasks are designed to encourage peer feedback and interaction with the materials. Some ideas for using them in other ways are:
Portfolio tasks are the basis of the final assessment task. There are a number of formats that this could take:
Extra Resources
Below is a collection of videos suitable for Problem Solving lessons.